Proclus Quotes on Nature
Proclus Lycius was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher and the last great head of the Platonic Academy at Athens. This page collects quotes attributed to Proclus on the topic of nature, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Proclus:
“All that exists proceeds from a single first cause.”
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Attributed to Proclus:
“All that proceeds from any cause reverts in respect of its being upon that from which it proceeds.”
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Attributed to Proclus:
“Wherever there is procession there is also reversion.”
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“The Platonic doctrine of Ideas has been, in all ages, the derision of the vulgar, and the admiration of the wife. Indeed, if we consider that ideas are the most sublime objects of speculation, and that their nature is no less bright in itself, than difficult to investigate, this opposition in the conduct of mankind will be natural and necessary; for, from our connection with a material nature, our intellectual eye, previous to the irradiations of science, is as ill adapted to objects the most splendid of all, "as the eyes of bats to the light of day.”
A Dissertation on the Doctrine of Ideas, &c." Footnote: see second book of Aristotle's Metaphysics.